Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
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Moran Li
Abstract
The first boot-shaped antler artifacts appear in the Shuangdun culture along the middle Huaihe River watershed at circa 7000 BP, before spreading out across the circum-Taihu Lake region, central Henan, and the Shandong Peninsula. Characteristic shape and use-wear marks indicate probable use as a scraping tool for leatherworking. Based on archaeological data from the Old Koryak culture in the Kamchatka Peninsula, as well as Eskimo and Native American ethnographies and contextual analysis of boot-shaped antler artifacts in burials at Sanlihe, a Dawenkou culture site, this essay argues that the boot-shaped antler artifact was likely a leatherworking tool.
Postscript
The original article 鹿角靴形器与史前皮革生产 was published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2021.6:79–92 with 10 illustrations and 76 notes. The abbreviated English version, translated by Edward Allen 安达, has removed the notes and added further readings.
Further readings
Albright, Sylvia Louise. 1982. An ethnoarchaeological study of Tahltan subsistence and settlement patterns. Simon Fraser University. pp. 103–120.Search in Google Scholar
Beyries, Sylvie, and Veerle Rots. 2008. The contribution of ethnoarchaeological macro- and microscopic wear traces to the understanding of archaeological hide working processes. In Prehistoric technology: 40 years later, functional studies and the Russian legacy. BAR International Series 1738. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp.21–28.Search in Google Scholar
Miles, Charles. 1963. Indians and Eskimo artifacts of North America. New York: Bonanza Books. pp.100–101.Search in Google Scholar
Stephenson, Robert L. 1964. Indian and Eskimo artifacts of North America by Charles Miles. American Antiquity 30(2):226–227.10.2307/278868Search in Google Scholar
Takase, Katsunori. 2012. End scrapers of the Old Koryak culture: A case study in the Kamchatka and Taigonos Peninsulas. Journal of the graduate school of letters 7. Hokkaido University.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Excavation of a Neolithic site at Jingtoushan in Yuyao, Zhejiang
- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
- The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia
- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
- The excavation of the 2018 Xuewei tomb No. 1 in Reshui cemetery, Dulan County, Qinghai
- Reports
- The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan
- The excavation of tomb M12 at Hujiacaochang cemetery in Jingzhou, Hubei
- The excavation of Liao dynasty tomb of Han Derang in Beizhen, Liaoning
- Research
- Research on prehistoric 凸-shaped house remains on the Loess Plateau
- The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
- Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
- Archaeological culture, document texts, and the construction of early Wu Yue history
- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
- Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
- Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal skeletal remains unearthed at Zengpiyan and Dayan sites in Guilin
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Excavation of a Neolithic site at Jingtoushan in Yuyao, Zhejiang
- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
- The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia
- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
- The excavation of the 2018 Xuewei tomb No. 1 in Reshui cemetery, Dulan County, Qinghai
- Reports
- The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan
- The excavation of tomb M12 at Hujiacaochang cemetery in Jingzhou, Hubei
- The excavation of Liao dynasty tomb of Han Derang in Beizhen, Liaoning
- Research
- Research on prehistoric 凸-shaped house remains on the Loess Plateau
- The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
- Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
- Archaeological culture, document texts, and the construction of early Wu Yue history
- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
- Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
- Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal skeletal remains unearthed at Zengpiyan and Dayan sites in Guilin
